Frame and panel construction



y 9, 1951 P. E. METTS 2,554,915

FRAME AND PANEL CONSTRUCTION Filed July 1, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 9iNvENToR Mf@ U EM TTS P. E. METTS FRAME AND PANEL CONSTRUCTION May 29, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 1, 1948 INVENTOR P L E .METTS :9 1/114;

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 11 .14.

65! m 6'3 15,. fig.

INVENTOR FRAME AND PANEL CONSTRQCTION RNA May 29, 1951 Filed July 1,1948 Patented May 29, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRAME AND PANELCONSTRUCTION Paul E. Metts, Crafton, Pa., assignor to Aluminum ProductsCorporation, Pittsbur h, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania ApplicationJuly 1, 1948, Serial No. 36,318

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a frame and panel I construction for a windowor a door, particularly for the kind of storm window described in mycopending application Serial No. 692,407, filed August 23, 1946, forMetal Storm Window.

Frames with removable panels have been 1 proposed heretofore, having onepanel held .in place by pivoted clips.

The pivoted clips tend to loosen after some use and do not hold thepanel firmly and positively. Moreover, these clips take time and effortto fasten and detract from the appearance of the construction. I haveinvented a novel frame and panel construction whereby these pivotedclips are eliminated and c the panels are more readily mounted in thesash and are firmly held therein. The panels may be glazed or screened,as desired.

Figure 1 is a front view of my frame and panel construction from theoutside;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical partial sectional view of the frame andpanels, through the line 22 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a similar sectional view with the lower panel swung back;

Figure 4 is a front view of the glazed upper panel from the outside;

"Figure 9 is a cross-sectional view of the frame and upper panel throughthe lin IX --IX in Figure 1;

Figure 10 is a front view of the glazed lower panel from the outside;

Figures 11-, 12 and 13 are enlarged isometric sectional views of the topmember, a side member and the bottom member, respectively, of the glazedlower panel taken through the lines XIXI, XII- -XII and XIIL-XIII,respectively, in Figure 10;

Figure 14 is a front view of a screened lower panel; and

Figures 15, 16 and 17 are enlarged isometric sectional views of the topmember, a side member and. the bottom member, respectively, of thescreened lower panel taken through the lines XV-XV, XVI-XVI andXVII-XVII in Figure l4.- I

Referring in detail to the drawings, the con- Struction of my inventioncomprises a frame I0 iii) in which are removably mounted an upper glazedpanel I I and a lower glazed panel I 2. The frame is adapted to bemounted in a building with the side shown in Figure l facing outwardlyand the reverse side of the frame facing inwardly.

The frame I0 comprises an upper cross-member I3, side members I4 and I5,and a lower cross-member i6, The upper cross-member I3 has an outerflange I3 and inner flange I9 extending downwardly therefrom and forminga channel H. As shown in Figure 9, the side member It has flanges 20'and 2I extending inwardly to form a channel 22, a flange 23 extending tooverlap one side of the panels on the outside, and a spring clip 24extending to overlap said one side of the upper panel on the inside. Theside member I5 has corresponding inward flanges 30 and 3| forming achannel 32, a flange 33 to overlap the opposite side of the panels onthe outside, and a spring clip 34 extending to overlap said oppositeside of the upper panel on the inside. As shownin Figures 2' and 3, thelower cross-member I6 has an upwardly extending flange 26 and ahorizontal surface 27 extending infront of the flange 26,. for thepurpose of interlocking with the bottom of the lower panel.

The glazed upper panel I] has a top crossmember 36, side memberssi and38, and a bottom cross-member 3-9, as shown in Figure 4. A pane cf'glassis mounted in the panel as illustrated in Figu1'es 2,.3 and 6-9,andt'he' manner of joining the members is illustrated in the explodedview in Figure 5; the details of' the glazing and joining are describedmore fully in my above mentioned co-pending application Serial No.692,407. The upper part of the top cross-member 36 is adapted to beinserted slidably in' the channel I"! of the frame member I3, as shownin Figures 2 and 3. The side member 37 has a channel which opensoutwardly and is adapted to interlock in verticalsliding engagementwiththe side channel 22 of the frame, as shown in Figure 9. The otherside member 38 has a corresponding channel 4| adapted to slida'blyinterlock with side channel 32 of the frame. fhe channels 40 and M areopen at both ends, as shown in Figure 4, in order thatthey may slidablyinterlock with the frame. The bottom cross-member 39 has flanges 42 and43 extending downwardly along its lower portion and forming channel 45along the bottom of the upper panel. The flange 43 is on the inward sideof the panel and has an inwardly extending projection 45 to provide aconvenient inside member 50, side members 5| and 52, and a bottomcross-member 53, as shown in Figure 10. The members are joined andglazed as in the case of the panel II. The top cross-member 50 isadapted to fit slidably and rotatably in the channel 44 along the bottomof the upper panel, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The side members 5! and*52 of the lower panel are of the same cross-section and spacing as theside members 3! and 38 of the upper panel, and likewise interlock invertical slidable engagement with the side channels 22 and 32,respectively,'of the frame. The bottom cross-member 53 has a downwardlyextending flange 54 and a flat lower surface 56 extending inwardlybehind the flange 54. The flange 54 and surface 56 are adapted tointerlock with surface 21 and flange 26 of the lower crossmember [6 0fthe frame, as shown inFigureZ, to provide a weather seal and to hold thebottom of the lower panel against inward movement when the lower panelis in its lowermost position in the frame.

The vertical dimensions of the frame and panels may vary, but must beproportioned to permit sufficient upward movement of the panels todisengage the flange 54 of the lower panel from the flange 26 of theframe, so that the lower panel may be raised and swung inwardly forremoval as illustrated in Figures 2 and 3 and as hereinafter explained.Theinner flange I9 at the top of the frame should extend downsufficiently to overlap the top of the upper panel when both panels aremounted in the frame in their lowermost position, so that the saidflange IE will provide a weatherseal and also add its support to that ofthe spring clips 24 and 34 in holding the upper panel against inwardmovement.

' The panels may be placed in the frame as follows:. the upper 'panel IIis positioned with its channels 40 and 41 in sliding engagement with theside channels 22 and 32 of the frame 10, and with its top cross-memberbelow the spring clips 24 and 34; the upper panel is then slidvertically up until its top cross-member 36i held against further upwardmovement by the channel ll of the frame (shown in Figure 3). The lowerpanel 12 is then placed at an angle to the upper panel as shown inFigure3, with the top of the lower panel aligned in the channel 44 of theupper ,panel. The lower panel is then swung toward the frame until itschanneled side members fully engage the channeled side members of theframe. Both panels are then lowered by grasping the projection 45 on theupper panel and pulling down. The upper panel slides down with its lowerchannel fitting over the top of the lower panel (shown in Figure 2).Both panels move down together until the flanged bottom of the lowerpanel interlocks with the flanged l'ower cross-member of the frame. Thepanels are then flrmly mounted in the frame, as shown in Figure 2.

The panels may be removed as follows: both panels are raised by graspingthe projection 55 on the lower panel and pushing up to disengagethebottom of the lower panel from the frame, and then pullinginwardly toremove the lower panel. The upper panel may then be removed by graspingits projection 45 and first pulling down cross-member 6| with a curvedchannel 62 as shown in Figure 15, a bottom cross-member 63 with a curvedchannel as shown in Figure 16, and side members 65 and 66 with similarcurved channels, the channel of member 65 being shown at 61 in Figure17. The screen is mounted in the panel by rolling the edges of thescreen around four rods and forcing the rods into the respectivechannels. The panel is adapted to be mounted in the frame in the sameway as the corresponding glazed panel l2. However, the side members 65and 66 do not have channels like channels 40 and 41 of panel ll (compareFigures 1'7 and 7) because an interlocking weather seal is not neededfor a screened panel and the screened panel side members 65 and 66 aresufficiently engaged for vertical sliding movement by the flanges 2| and23 of one frame side member and flanges 3| and 33 of the other frameside member (these flanges are shown in Figure 9). The side members ofthe screened panel and the means" of inserting the screen in the panelare described in more detail in my above-mentioned co-pendingapplication Serial No. 692,407.

The embodiment of my invention illustrated in the attached drawings isspecifically designed for use as a storm window. It may, however, bemounted as a regular window of a house. The frame and panel members areformed of metal and are especially adapted to be formed of eX- trudedpieces of light metals, such as aluminum. This provides a strong, lightand eificient construction, and this construction is obviously adaptablefor other uses such as in storm doors or other doors as well as inwindows.

Although I have illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of theinvention, it will be recognized that changes in the details andarrangement disclosed may be-made without departing from the spirit ofthe invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: 7

l. A frame and panel construction comprising a rectangular frame witha'pair of extruded metal horizontal cross-members and a pair of extrudedmetal vertical side-members, and a plurality of coplanar abutting panelsmounted in the frame for removal from the rear of the frame, each panelhaving a pair of extruded metal horizontal cross-members and a pair ofextruded metal vertical side-members, said sidemembers of the framehaving integral vertical flanges extending normal to the frame andforming channels opening toward the rear of the frame and saidside-members of the panels having integral channel-forming flangesextending parallel to the first-mentioned flanges and slidablyinterlocking therewith to permit vertical movement of the panels'in theframe and removal of the panels in a direction normal to the plane ofthe frame, and the upper one of said cross-members of the frame having apair of spaced integral flanges forming a downwardly opening channeladapted slidably to receive the top of the upper cross-member of thetop-panel upon upward movement thereof and the'lower of saidcrossemembers of the frame having an upwardly extending flange adaptedto interlock with the lower cross-member of the bottom panel upondownward movement thereof, with the lower cross-member of all but thelowermost of the panels having a pair of spaced integral flanges forminga downwardly opening channel adapted slidably to receive the top of theadjacent upper equipped with a screen. The panel has a top cross-memberof the panel therebelow; whereby the panels are readily mounted in anddismounted from the frame and the adjacent sideand cross-members of theframe and panels are all in secure and weather-sealed interlockingrelation when the panelsare in place in the frame.

2. A frame and panel construction comprising a rectangular frame with apair of extruded metal horizontal cross-members and a pair of extrudedmetal vertical side-members, and a plurality of coplanar abutting panelsmounted in the frame for removal from the rear of the frame, each panelhaving a pair of extruded metal horizontal cross-members and a pair ofextruded metal vertical side-members, said side-members of the framehaving integral vertical flanges which extend normal to the frameacross, in the case of one flange, the whole depth of the frame and formchannels opening toward the rear of the frame and said side-members ofthe panels having integral channel-forming flanges extending parallel tothe first-mentioned flanges and slidably interlocking therewith topermit vertical movement of the panels in the frame and removal of thepanels in a direction normal to the plane of the frame, and the upperone of said cross-members of the frame having a pair of spaced integralflanges forming a downwardly opening channel adapted slidably to receivethe top of the upper cross-member of the top panel upon upward movementthereof and the lower of said cross-members of the frame having anupwardly extending flange adapted to interlock with the lowercross-member of the bottom panel upon downward movement thereof, withthe lower cross-member of all but the lowermost of the panels having apair of spaced integral flanges forming a downwardly opening channeladapted slidably to receive the top of the adjacent upper cross-memberof the panel therebelow, and with the said side-members of the frameeach also having an integral vertical flange extending parallel to theplane of the frame and overlapping the adjacent panel side-members inorder to limit movement of the panels toward the front of the 3. A frameand panel construction comprising a rectangular frame with a pair ofextruded metal horizontal cross-members and a pair of extruded metalvertical side-members, and a plurality of coplanar abutting panelsmounted in the frame for removal from the rear of the frame, each panelhaving a pair of extruded metal horizontal cross-members and a pair ofextruded metal vertical side-members, said side-members of the framehaving integral vertical flanges extending normal to the frame andforming channels opening toward the rear of the frame and saidsidemembers of the panels having integral channelforming flangesextending parallel to the firstmentioned flanges and slidablyinterlocking therewith to permit vertical movement of the panels in theframe and removal of the panels in a direction normal to the plane ofthe frame, and the upper one of said cross-members of the frame having apair of spaced integral flanges forming a downwardly opening channeladapted slidably to receive the top of the upper cross-member of the toppanel upon upward movement thereof and the lower of said cross-membersof the frame having an upwardly extending flange adapted to interlockwith the lower cross-member of the bottom panel upon downward movementthereof, with the lower cross-member of all but the lowermost of thepanels having a pair of spaced integral flanges forming a downwardlyopening channel adapted slidably to receive the top of the adjacentupper cross-member of the panel therebelow, and with the top of theupper cross-member of each panel being in the form of an inverted L incross-section, the tail of the L being rearwardly extending, whereby thepanels are readily mounted in and dismounted from the frame and theadjacent sideand cross-members of the frame and panels are all in secureand weather-sealed interlocking relation when the panels are in place inthe frame.

PAUL E. METTS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,272,039 Hausmann July 9, 19182,402,112 Gee June 11, 1946 2,430,059 Krantz Nov. 4, 1947 2,430,615Levine Nov. 11, 1947

